What Do You Hear in These Sounds? 17/?
Author: Carsonfiles
Timeline: This chapter goes post-finale, as I try to reclaim our favorite characters. All of them. Because Shonda replaced them with pod-people starting from around "Desire" on.
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, but if Shonda doesn't quit bending them in ways they weren't meant to bend, I might have to confiscate them.
Summary: Starting a new year, the morning after the not-wedding.
Rating: PG-13
Note: Thanks for the comments over the past few days. I've had 2, count 'em, 2 sets of unexpected guests this week. One of which included five (yep, that's right, F-I-V-E) children. So even though my intention is to respond to comments individually, I have gotten behind. I may as yet catch up. Or I may not. Depends on if someone calls tomorrow and tells me that they are in town and need a place to stay.
“I have five rules,” the resident nearly shouted. “Memorize them. Rule number one: don’t bother sucking up, I hate you already.” Bailey took off through the surgical wing in full drill sergeant mode. Lexie and the other interns in her group struggled to keep up. She tried to listen to her new boss, but was busy looking around corners and down hallways to catch a glimpse of her sister. Not that I know what she looks like, she could look like me or she could look like dad or she could look like Dr. Grey. Except I’m Dr. Grey now.
“This is the board, all of the surgeries are listed on the board. Patient name, procedure, diagnosis, the names of the doctors scrubbing in, the or number. Down there is the recovery room. Be kind to the nurses, because they will save your asses and keep you from killing someone. You hope.” They were at a steady pace of an almost run now, approaching the nurses station when Lexie saw him. Crap. The flirter, the kisser from last night. She looked around, but no giant hole had conveniently appeared nearby to swallow her and get her out of this situation.
“Good morning, Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Sloane. This is my latest group of suck-ups. I hope they manage to do as well as the last without creating as much trouble for me. Suck-ups, those are the attendings. You would do well to leave them alone.” And the resident continued down the hall, giving a brief tour. Lexie kept her head down, but at the last moment turned to see the flirt from last night staring after her, one eyebrow speculatively raised. Crap.
Mark noticed that Derek was staring after the group of interns as well, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Not nearly as uncomfortable as Mark, though. But still, his friend--were they friends again?--had a ghost of a guilty look on his face.
"What?"
Derek turned to Mark. "Did you see that new intern?" His voice came out a whisper.
"Derek, there were four of them. But I noticed the chick."
"Mark, that chick was in the Emerald City Bar night before last, and offered to buy me a drink. Things were already complicated, and now? If Meredith finds out that the girl from the bar works in the hospital, she won't have to think about things. They'll be over."
How on earth did Derek ever make it through medical school? Someone needs to set him straight, and I guess it will have to be me. Nothing to lose.
"Derek, you are the stupidest doctor I've ever met. Are you telling me you were flirting with that girl?"
Derek pinched the bridge of his nose, then rubbed his eyes. "I told Meredith. We don't have secrets."
"Okay, let me put this out there for you. First off, if you let that girl buy you a drink, you are an idiot. . ."
"No, I didn't."
"Okay, you might not be an idiot. Jury's still out. Second, Meredith doesn't want to think about things. She wants to be with you."
"You don't know that."
"Yeah I do."
"How could you know that?"
"Third, that girl was at Joe's last night. And she went home alone. But not before getting a few slips of the tongue from Mark Sloane. She'd had some tequila, and I'd been all over Seattle looking for the runaway groom. So if anyone's life just got complicated, it's mine."
"You?"
"I may need some tips on how to handle a lusty intern, Derek."
Derek looked ready to lay Mark out on the floor again, just as he had when Mark first showed up at Seattle Grace. But then he was struck by the irony of the situation, the parallel lives that the two of them were leading. As much as he tried not to, he couldn't help but laugh. Once he had started, Mark couldn't help but join him in a few minutes of gut busting laughter as they walked down the hall.
Back at the nurse's station, Debbie turned to Olivia. "Now that? That's going in the blog for sure."
The group of interns finished up at The Pit-the Emergency Room to anyone who didn’t work at Seattle Grace. It was The Pit, because working there meant you were stuck in a deep hole until rescued by a challenging patient presenting with a surgical case. Bailey gave each of the interns a not-very-challenging-yet-possibly-surgical case on which to practice non-existent skills on, and asked them to report back. Each of the interns, that is, save for Lexie.
“Grey, let’s have a conversation. I’ll pretend that I don’t hate you, and you’ll pretend that you can talk to me. This lasts only for the next five minutes, so I don’t want you coming to tell me about your secret hopes and dreams, do you understand?”
Lexie nodded.
“Grey, let’s have a conversation. I’ll pretend that I don’t hate you, and you’ll pretend that you can talk to me. This lasts only for the next five minutes, so I don’t want you coming to tell me about your secret hopes and dreams, do you understand?”
Lexie nodded.
“You know your sister works here? Good. Let’s get this straight between us. I know your father blames her for your mother’s death. And that is not the case, she was not responsible for that. And she has that name, just like you do, but she also has the talent to back it up. If you understand that you will learn from Dr. Grey, you might make it here. If you meet her with an imagined grudge, you will not. If you have any intention of bringing any ill will to the resident Dr. Grey, you need to get that idea out of your head. Dr. Grey is a valued doctor here, and she has put up with more than you will ever know to establish a name for herself. And her name, just like her mother’s name, is actually making your life easier. Now go, deliver those lab results. This conversation is over. Forget about that part about talking to me, because that isn’t going to happen.”
“Um.” What could I possibly have to say to that? “Thanks?”
Bailey’s face softened, and she almost smiled. But she didn’t. She held out the stack of lab results.
“Thank you,” Lexie croaked out, taking the stack of lab results from the resident’s hands. She looked at the one on top. Where on earth is room E19?
“Callie!”
“George, I swear to you, this job is important to me. What do you need me for?”
“Take five minutes out of your day, and talk to me. I have a meeting with Webber in a half hour, and I need your opinion before I go.”
Callie stood facing him, arms crossed and hip slung out in irritation. “Fine. Talk.”
George looked both ways down the hall. “This is hard for me to say. But I fa-. . .”
“Oh, George.” Callie suddenly was sad. “You don’t need to tell me. I figured it out. Izzie thinks she’s in love with you. You think you’re in love with her. You slept together.”
Suddenly, George felt every inch of him deserved the nickname that Cristina had given him at the beginning of their internship. He remembered the bunnies in Watership Down and how they had a word for how he felt right now-tharn. He had gone tharn in the face of his wife’s inability to lie or hide from the truth.
“How. . .um. How did-did Izzie say. . .” He hadn’t fully finished a sentence when she interrupted him.
“Don’t. Don’t bother. Just go back to the hotel, and pack. Pack everything that belongs to you, and not one scrap more. Don’t think about touching the minibar. Go back to your little dorm house, if they’ll have you. I’ll talk to my lawyers.”
My lawyers. And George was reminded of the money that his wife possessed, and knew that their divorce would be quick in coming, if that money could speed it up. He no longer needed to tell her that he had failed his test. She would figure that out when his name showed up on the schedule as a first year intern. Again.
Meredith stared up at the board, trying to decide whether she should go looking for her assigned attending or if she would fare better back down in the pit. Her choice was taken from her when she heard voices behind her.
“You’d think as a resident, she’d have something better to do than to stand and look at the board.”
“Mmmm,” answered another, even more familiar voice. “Do you think she’ll turn around?”
Now, that would be interesting, she thought. Stand here all day with my back turned and see just how far they’ll go to get my attention. Is this what they had been like as friends in New York? She realized that the two doctors had been spotted together at least twice that morning-two more times than was typical.
“I do believe that Dr. Grey is ignoring us, Dr. Shepherd. Do you know why that could be?”
“Dr. Sloane, I must say that I do not know. But my suspicion is that there may be some mud in her ears. Perhaps I should inspect closely.”
She felt Derek step closer, and just as he was about to touch her hair, she whirled around.
“I most certainly do not have mud in my ears. And I’ve actually been looking for you. Both of you. Dr. Sloane, I’m assigned to your service over the next two weeks, so let me know if we should review the rules. And Dr. Shepherd, I need to talk to you.”
Derek’s eyes widened, and he nodded.
“No, it’s. . .it’s just that my sister is here.”
“Molly is here?” Derek looked pleased; Meredith was sharing.
“No. The other one. She’s a new intern here. She’s assigned to Bailey, she's Bailey's intern. Which means that I’ll have to work with her. She’s got my name and she’s here. She’s working. Here. So I'll be working with her. On my team. Our team, since the three of us are on the same team. With you. And me. And my sister.”
Mark stopped her. “Wait a minute. You mean that chick that was in Bailey’s group, the one that was at Joe’s is your sister?”
“Half-sister,” Meredith corrected. And then heard what had been said. “The one at. . .” Her eyes widened. She realized her mouth was hanging open, so closed it. And then opened it to say something, then decided against it, and closed it again. And looked at Derek.
“You mean the highlight of your week? Was my sister?” She could barely get the words out through the knifing pain in her chest. She looked from Derek to Mark, and then back at Derek.
“Dr. Sloane, could you give me a few minutes please? I think I’m done sharing for the day.” She staggered away, and managed to get to the staircase before collapsing onto the top step. The tears held off until the clanging slam of the door reverberated down through the levels of the staircase.
Alex and Addison scrubbed out of their emergency surgery. The neonate, underweight from the loss of nutrients because of the true knot in the umbilical cord, was safely in NICU with her father. The mother would recover, although she had scared them much more than her daughter. She would never be allowed to carry a child full-term-in fact, she would be discouraged from carrying a child ever again. At least she has her older daughter and her newborn. Addison cursed herself, and made a mental note that she had to come to a resolution with her own infertility. Being jealous of patients took her to an emotional place she wouldn’t want to stay for long.
“So, tell me, Karev. Did you talk to Ava last night?” She glanced over, forcing her voice to stay casual.
Alex grabbed a towel and dried his hands, then clenched them around the rough terrycloth. “No, Dr. Montgomery. And you know I didn’t. She was gone long before I got here. I’m glad she was gone, before I did something stupid. And I’m done playing the mind games.” He tossed the towel onto the pile and walked out the door. Addison followed him out.
“Karev, what mind games are you talking about?”
He turned around. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, your whole ‘go after Ava thing.’ The worst part about it is that I did, I’m such an idiot that I took your advice and came over to the hospital, planning on telling a patient I wanted her. A married patient. How sick is that?"
Addison took a step back in the face of his vehemence. “But. . .I thought. . .” So he wasn't in love with Ava?
"You see the name Stevens on this badge?” He shook his head at her. “Dr. Montgomery, let’s just stop. Don’t give me advice, don’t tell me what to do. Unless the subject is the practice of medicine, we don’t need to be discussing it.” And he turned, and continued down the hall, shouting over his shoulder, “I’m going to talk to the husband now.”
Addison stopped following him and watched him go. She shook her head slightly. She had been sure that the patient had been the cause of his sudden reversal a few days earlier, the rejection that had caused her to bolt to Los Angeles. The one that had made her decide she needed a baby to complete her, since it was obvious that no man ever would. So what is up with the mysterious Alex Karev? She knew she hadn’t imagined their mutual attraction, the tension that had built up over the previous weeks. Months, even. Any unbiased observer would have seen the messages they’d telegraphed each other. And, yes, she had made a bit of an idiot of herself after Jane Doe’s cesarean, hauling him off into the closest supply closet. But his sudden about-face, explicitly rejecting her-and then another reversal, flirting with her at Preston and Yang’s wedding-well, color her confused.
And confused wasn't anyplace Addison wanted to stay either.
She was pissed.
She was disappointed.
She was crushed.
She was angry.
She was devastated.
She was heartbroken.
Actually, she was all of the above.
But the worst thing, the very worst thing of all is that when we got married, we both meant it. We meant it that day, we meant it that week in Vegas. All it took to end our marriage? Was Seattle. His friends. His freaking friends.
Callie had known that she wasn’t like his friends. She’d heard Grey talk about being the angry punk girl in high school, and maybe that was true, but now? Now she and Stevens and Yang were all like. . .skinny and pretty. And weird and judgy. She should have known that she’d never fit with them. But seriously, for Izzie to sleep with George? Why?
Is Izzie really that selfish? And then Callie snorted. Because, if nothing else, she was pragmatic. And the answer was evident, at least to her: Izzie didn’t care what damage she did, as long as she felt loved.
So right now? She was looking for Dr. Isobel Stevens. She found her coming out of a patient room.
“Stevens? A word with you?” And she saw the truth, again, flicker across Izzie's face in a ghost of what she would have called guilt, had she been watching someone with a conscience. But then it was gone. She grabbed Izzie by the wrist and dragged her to the stairwell door.
“You did it. You couldn’t get rid of me by playing the best friend card, so you slept with George to put a wedge between us. I can’t believe you. I should have known, should have expected that you would do something like this.”
Izzie gaped at the other woman. “How. . .who?”
Callie suddenly didn’t care how much of a fool she was making of herself. She pulled Izzie into the stairwell.
“You said you were his friend. I know you hate me, fine, I’m so devastated that the little blonde model docter doesn’t like Callie. But you were his friend.” No tears, there will be no crying while talking to Izzie Stephens. “You should have been there for him, not destroyed him. Because George. . .” and she stopped, feeling a new surge of anger for the woman in front of her, took a breath and went on. “George is a good person and you? Being with you, sleeping with you, knowing you destroyed his marriage? Forced his move to Mercy West? You will destroy him. He will have lost everything because some selfish sperm-burping gutter whore decided that he was her true love.”
Izzie looked Callie straight in the eye and asked, “So you decided not to try for a baby?”
Callie lost it with that, drew back her left hand and slapped that bitch across the face. And then, (ogodwhathaveidone) seeing the cheek turn white then red and the tears that did come to the younger woman’s eyes, she knew that she might be seeing the end of her career, the end of her life at Seattle Grace, the end of her marriage, the end of her life. Izzie’s hand covered the mark.
“Bitch,” she hissed. “I think the chief will be interested in hearing about this particular management style.” And with that, Izzie left the stairwell.
Previous Chapters
1: I don't go to therapy to find out if I'm a freak
2: I go and I find the one and only answer every week
3: And it's just me and all the memories to follow
4: Down any course that fits within a fifty-minute hour
5: And we fathom all the mysteries, explicit and inherent
6: When I hit a rut, she says to try the other parent
7: And she's so kind, I think she wants to tell me something
8: But she knows that its much better if I get it for myself.
9: Oooooooh, aaaaaaah, what do you hear in these sounds?
10: I say I hear a doubt and a voice of true believing.
11: And the promises to stay, and the footsteps that are leaving.
12: And she says 'Oh', I say 'What?' She says 'Exactly,'13: I say, ‘What, you think I’m angry?
14: 'Does that mean you think I'm angry?'
15: She says, 'Look, you come here every week
16: With jigsaw pieces of your past
Timeline: This chapter goes post-finale, as I try to reclaim our favorite characters. All of them. Because Shonda replaced them with pod-people starting from around "Desire" on.
Disclaimer: They aren't mine, but if Shonda doesn't quit bending them in ways they weren't meant to bend, I might have to confiscate them.
Summary: Starting a new year, the morning after the not-wedding.
Rating: PG-13
Note: Thanks for the comments over the past few days. I've had 2, count 'em, 2 sets of unexpected guests this week. One of which included five (yep, that's right, F-I-V-E) children. So even though my intention is to respond to comments individually, I have gotten behind. I may as yet catch up. Or I may not. Depends on if someone calls tomorrow and tells me that they are in town and need a place to stay.
“I have five rules,” the resident nearly shouted. “Memorize them. Rule number one: don’t bother sucking up, I hate you already.” Bailey took off through the surgical wing in full drill sergeant mode. Lexie and the other interns in her group struggled to keep up. She tried to listen to her new boss, but was busy looking around corners and down hallways to catch a glimpse of her sister. Not that I know what she looks like, she could look like me or she could look like dad or she could look like Dr. Grey. Except I’m Dr. Grey now.
“This is the board, all of the surgeries are listed on the board. Patient name, procedure, diagnosis, the names of the doctors scrubbing in, the or number. Down there is the recovery room. Be kind to the nurses, because they will save your asses and keep you from killing someone. You hope.” They were at a steady pace of an almost run now, approaching the nurses station when Lexie saw him. Crap. The flirter, the kisser from last night. She looked around, but no giant hole had conveniently appeared nearby to swallow her and get her out of this situation.
“Good morning, Dr. Shepherd, Dr. Sloane. This is my latest group of suck-ups. I hope they manage to do as well as the last without creating as much trouble for me. Suck-ups, those are the attendings. You would do well to leave them alone.” And the resident continued down the hall, giving a brief tour. Lexie kept her head down, but at the last moment turned to see the flirt from last night staring after her, one eyebrow speculatively raised. Crap.
Mark noticed that Derek was staring after the group of interns as well, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Not nearly as uncomfortable as Mark, though. But still, his friend--were they friends again?--had a ghost of a guilty look on his face.
"What?"
Derek turned to Mark. "Did you see that new intern?" His voice came out a whisper.
"Derek, there were four of them. But I noticed the chick."
"Mark, that chick was in the Emerald City Bar night before last, and offered to buy me a drink. Things were already complicated, and now? If Meredith finds out that the girl from the bar works in the hospital, she won't have to think about things. They'll be over."
How on earth did Derek ever make it through medical school? Someone needs to set him straight, and I guess it will have to be me. Nothing to lose.
"Derek, you are the stupidest doctor I've ever met. Are you telling me you were flirting with that girl?"
Derek pinched the bridge of his nose, then rubbed his eyes. "I told Meredith. We don't have secrets."
"Okay, let me put this out there for you. First off, if you let that girl buy you a drink, you are an idiot. . ."
"No, I didn't."
"Okay, you might not be an idiot. Jury's still out. Second, Meredith doesn't want to think about things. She wants to be with you."
"You don't know that."
"Yeah I do."
"How could you know that?"
"Third, that girl was at Joe's last night. And she went home alone. But not before getting a few slips of the tongue from Mark Sloane. She'd had some tequila, and I'd been all over Seattle looking for the runaway groom. So if anyone's life just got complicated, it's mine."
"You?"
"I may need some tips on how to handle a lusty intern, Derek."
Derek looked ready to lay Mark out on the floor again, just as he had when Mark first showed up at Seattle Grace. But then he was struck by the irony of the situation, the parallel lives that the two of them were leading. As much as he tried not to, he couldn't help but laugh. Once he had started, Mark couldn't help but join him in a few minutes of gut busting laughter as they walked down the hall.
Back at the nurse's station, Debbie turned to Olivia. "Now that? That's going in the blog for sure."
The group of interns finished up at The Pit-the Emergency Room to anyone who didn’t work at Seattle Grace. It was The Pit, because working there meant you were stuck in a deep hole until rescued by a challenging patient presenting with a surgical case. Bailey gave each of the interns a not-very-challenging-yet-possibly-surgical case on which to practice non-existent skills on, and asked them to report back. Each of the interns, that is, save for Lexie.
“Grey, let’s have a conversation. I’ll pretend that I don’t hate you, and you’ll pretend that you can talk to me. This lasts only for the next five minutes, so I don’t want you coming to tell me about your secret hopes and dreams, do you understand?”
Lexie nodded.
“Grey, let’s have a conversation. I’ll pretend that I don’t hate you, and you’ll pretend that you can talk to me. This lasts only for the next five minutes, so I don’t want you coming to tell me about your secret hopes and dreams, do you understand?”
Lexie nodded.
“You know your sister works here? Good. Let’s get this straight between us. I know your father blames her for your mother’s death. And that is not the case, she was not responsible for that. And she has that name, just like you do, but she also has the talent to back it up. If you understand that you will learn from Dr. Grey, you might make it here. If you meet her with an imagined grudge, you will not. If you have any intention of bringing any ill will to the resident Dr. Grey, you need to get that idea out of your head. Dr. Grey is a valued doctor here, and she has put up with more than you will ever know to establish a name for herself. And her name, just like her mother’s name, is actually making your life easier. Now go, deliver those lab results. This conversation is over. Forget about that part about talking to me, because that isn’t going to happen.”
“Um.” What could I possibly have to say to that? “Thanks?”
Bailey’s face softened, and she almost smiled. But she didn’t. She held out the stack of lab results.
“Thank you,” Lexie croaked out, taking the stack of lab results from the resident’s hands. She looked at the one on top. Where on earth is room E19?
“Callie!”
“George, I swear to you, this job is important to me. What do you need me for?”
“Take five minutes out of your day, and talk to me. I have a meeting with Webber in a half hour, and I need your opinion before I go.”
Callie stood facing him, arms crossed and hip slung out in irritation. “Fine. Talk.”
George looked both ways down the hall. “This is hard for me to say. But I fa-. . .”
“Oh, George.” Callie suddenly was sad. “You don’t need to tell me. I figured it out. Izzie thinks she’s in love with you. You think you’re in love with her. You slept together.”
Suddenly, George felt every inch of him deserved the nickname that Cristina had given him at the beginning of their internship. He remembered the bunnies in Watership Down and how they had a word for how he felt right now-tharn. He had gone tharn in the face of his wife’s inability to lie or hide from the truth.
“How. . .um. How did-did Izzie say. . .” He hadn’t fully finished a sentence when she interrupted him.
“Don’t. Don’t bother. Just go back to the hotel, and pack. Pack everything that belongs to you, and not one scrap more. Don’t think about touching the minibar. Go back to your little dorm house, if they’ll have you. I’ll talk to my lawyers.”
My lawyers. And George was reminded of the money that his wife possessed, and knew that their divorce would be quick in coming, if that money could speed it up. He no longer needed to tell her that he had failed his test. She would figure that out when his name showed up on the schedule as a first year intern. Again.
Meredith stared up at the board, trying to decide whether she should go looking for her assigned attending or if she would fare better back down in the pit. Her choice was taken from her when she heard voices behind her.
“You’d think as a resident, she’d have something better to do than to stand and look at the board.”
“Mmmm,” answered another, even more familiar voice. “Do you think she’ll turn around?”
Now, that would be interesting, she thought. Stand here all day with my back turned and see just how far they’ll go to get my attention. Is this what they had been like as friends in New York? She realized that the two doctors had been spotted together at least twice that morning-two more times than was typical.
“I do believe that Dr. Grey is ignoring us, Dr. Shepherd. Do you know why that could be?”
“Dr. Sloane, I must say that I do not know. But my suspicion is that there may be some mud in her ears. Perhaps I should inspect closely.”
She felt Derek step closer, and just as he was about to touch her hair, she whirled around.
“I most certainly do not have mud in my ears. And I’ve actually been looking for you. Both of you. Dr. Sloane, I’m assigned to your service over the next two weeks, so let me know if we should review the rules. And Dr. Shepherd, I need to talk to you.”
Derek’s eyes widened, and he nodded.
“No, it’s. . .it’s just that my sister is here.”
“Molly is here?” Derek looked pleased; Meredith was sharing.
“No. The other one. She’s a new intern here. She’s assigned to Bailey, she's Bailey's intern. Which means that I’ll have to work with her. She’s got my name and she’s here. She’s working. Here. So I'll be working with her. On my team. Our team, since the three of us are on the same team. With you. And me. And my sister.”
Mark stopped her. “Wait a minute. You mean that chick that was in Bailey’s group, the one that was at Joe’s is your sister?”
“Half-sister,” Meredith corrected. And then heard what had been said. “The one at. . .” Her eyes widened. She realized her mouth was hanging open, so closed it. And then opened it to say something, then decided against it, and closed it again. And looked at Derek.
“You mean the highlight of your week? Was my sister?” She could barely get the words out through the knifing pain in her chest. She looked from Derek to Mark, and then back at Derek.
“Dr. Sloane, could you give me a few minutes please? I think I’m done sharing for the day.” She staggered away, and managed to get to the staircase before collapsing onto the top step. The tears held off until the clanging slam of the door reverberated down through the levels of the staircase.
Alex and Addison scrubbed out of their emergency surgery. The neonate, underweight from the loss of nutrients because of the true knot in the umbilical cord, was safely in NICU with her father. The mother would recover, although she had scared them much more than her daughter. She would never be allowed to carry a child full-term-in fact, she would be discouraged from carrying a child ever again. At least she has her older daughter and her newborn. Addison cursed herself, and made a mental note that she had to come to a resolution with her own infertility. Being jealous of patients took her to an emotional place she wouldn’t want to stay for long.
“So, tell me, Karev. Did you talk to Ava last night?” She glanced over, forcing her voice to stay casual.
Alex grabbed a towel and dried his hands, then clenched them around the rough terrycloth. “No, Dr. Montgomery. And you know I didn’t. She was gone long before I got here. I’m glad she was gone, before I did something stupid. And I’m done playing the mind games.” He tossed the towel onto the pile and walked out the door. Addison followed him out.
“Karev, what mind games are you talking about?”
He turned around. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, your whole ‘go after Ava thing.’ The worst part about it is that I did, I’m such an idiot that I took your advice and came over to the hospital, planning on telling a patient I wanted her. A married patient. How sick is that?"
Addison took a step back in the face of his vehemence. “But. . .I thought. . .” So he wasn't in love with Ava?
"You see the name Stevens on this badge?” He shook his head at her. “Dr. Montgomery, let’s just stop. Don’t give me advice, don’t tell me what to do. Unless the subject is the practice of medicine, we don’t need to be discussing it.” And he turned, and continued down the hall, shouting over his shoulder, “I’m going to talk to the husband now.”
Addison stopped following him and watched him go. She shook her head slightly. She had been sure that the patient had been the cause of his sudden reversal a few days earlier, the rejection that had caused her to bolt to Los Angeles. The one that had made her decide she needed a baby to complete her, since it was obvious that no man ever would. So what is up with the mysterious Alex Karev? She knew she hadn’t imagined their mutual attraction, the tension that had built up over the previous weeks. Months, even. Any unbiased observer would have seen the messages they’d telegraphed each other. And, yes, she had made a bit of an idiot of herself after Jane Doe’s cesarean, hauling him off into the closest supply closet. But his sudden about-face, explicitly rejecting her-and then another reversal, flirting with her at Preston and Yang’s wedding-well, color her confused.
And confused wasn't anyplace Addison wanted to stay either.
She was pissed.
She was disappointed.
She was crushed.
She was angry.
She was devastated.
She was heartbroken.
Actually, she was all of the above.
But the worst thing, the very worst thing of all is that when we got married, we both meant it. We meant it that day, we meant it that week in Vegas. All it took to end our marriage? Was Seattle. His friends. His freaking friends.
Callie had known that she wasn’t like his friends. She’d heard Grey talk about being the angry punk girl in high school, and maybe that was true, but now? Now she and Stevens and Yang were all like. . .skinny and pretty. And weird and judgy. She should have known that she’d never fit with them. But seriously, for Izzie to sleep with George? Why?
Is Izzie really that selfish? And then Callie snorted. Because, if nothing else, she was pragmatic. And the answer was evident, at least to her: Izzie didn’t care what damage she did, as long as she felt loved.
So right now? She was looking for Dr. Isobel Stevens. She found her coming out of a patient room.
“Stevens? A word with you?” And she saw the truth, again, flicker across Izzie's face in a ghost of what she would have called guilt, had she been watching someone with a conscience. But then it was gone. She grabbed Izzie by the wrist and dragged her to the stairwell door.
“You did it. You couldn’t get rid of me by playing the best friend card, so you slept with George to put a wedge between us. I can’t believe you. I should have known, should have expected that you would do something like this.”
Izzie gaped at the other woman. “How. . .who?”
Callie suddenly didn’t care how much of a fool she was making of herself. She pulled Izzie into the stairwell.
“You said you were his friend. I know you hate me, fine, I’m so devastated that the little blonde model docter doesn’t like Callie. But you were his friend.” No tears, there will be no crying while talking to Izzie Stephens. “You should have been there for him, not destroyed him. Because George. . .” and she stopped, feeling a new surge of anger for the woman in front of her, took a breath and went on. “George is a good person and you? Being with you, sleeping with you, knowing you destroyed his marriage? Forced his move to Mercy West? You will destroy him. He will have lost everything because some selfish sperm-burping gutter whore decided that he was her true love.”
Izzie looked Callie straight in the eye and asked, “So you decided not to try for a baby?”
Callie lost it with that, drew back her left hand and slapped that bitch across the face. And then, (ogodwhathaveidone) seeing the cheek turn white then red and the tears that did come to the younger woman’s eyes, she knew that she might be seeing the end of her career, the end of her life at Seattle Grace, the end of her marriage, the end of her life. Izzie’s hand covered the mark.
“Bitch,” she hissed. “I think the chief will be interested in hearing about this particular management style.” And with that, Izzie left the stairwell.
Previous Chapters
1: I don't go to therapy to find out if I'm a freak
2: I go and I find the one and only answer every week
3: And it's just me and all the memories to follow
4: Down any course that fits within a fifty-minute hour
5: And we fathom all the mysteries, explicit and inherent
6: When I hit a rut, she says to try the other parent
7: And she's so kind, I think she wants to tell me something
8: But she knows that its much better if I get it for myself.
9: Oooooooh, aaaaaaah, what do you hear in these sounds?
10: I say I hear a doubt and a voice of true believing.
11: And the promises to stay, and the footsteps that are leaving.
12: And she says 'Oh', I say 'What?' She says 'Exactly,'13: I say, ‘What, you think I’m angry?
14: 'Does that mean you think I'm angry?'
15: She says, 'Look, you come here every week
16: With jigsaw pieces of your past